(Adds quotes on Iran supporting Iraqi PM) TEHRAN, April 7 (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had received a request from the United States, its old foe, for a new round of talks on ways to improve security in Iraq and was considering it. Easing a diplomatic freeze lasting almost three decades, Iranian and U.S. officials met three times in Baghdad last year, but a planned fourth meeting has been repeatedly postponed. The Iranian Foreign Ministry also voiced support for Iraq's U.S.-backed prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, in his crackdown on militia and suggested Tehran had played a role in efforts to end fighting in its neighbour last month. Maliki's action was aimed at "confronting illegal armed groups" and this was in the interest of Iraq and its neighbours, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said. But he hit out at the role of U.S. forces during the fighting, blaming them for the deaths of civilians. He was speaking as Maliki raised the stakes in his showdown with followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, saying they would be barred from elections unless their militia disbands. Iraqi security forces on Sunday launched raids into the cleric's Baghdad stronghold, bringing heavy fighting back to the capital after a week of relative calm when Sadr called his militia off the streets there and in Iraq's south. Shi'ite Iran's influence in Iraq has grown since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 toppled Sunni Arab strongman Saddam Hussein and ushered in a Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad. The United States accuses Iran of stoking violence in Iraq by training and equipping Iraqi militants. Iran denies this and blames the presence of U.S. troops for the bloodshed. Analysts say the two old enemies have a shared interest in a stable Iraq. "We have received a new request by American officials ... for the holding of negotiations on the Iraqi developments and we are looking into the case," Hosseini told a news conference. An adviser of a leading Iraqi politician last week also said the United States had asked for a new meeting. Mohsen Hakim, whose father Abdul Aziz al-Hakim heads the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, also told Iran's Mehr News Agency Tehran helped end last month's fighting between Iraqi troops and Shi'ite militia in the oil-rich southern city of Basra. Hosseini confirmed an Iraqi delegation had been in Iran: "We called on all the parties involved to practice self-restraint." U.S. officials say Sadr is currently in Iran but this has not been confirmed by Iranian officials. U.S. President George W. Bush last month said he wanted to send a "clear message" to Iran that it could not have its way in the Middle East. Washington and Tehran are also embroiled in a standoff over Iran's disputed nuclear plans, which the West suspects are aimed at making nuclear bombs. Tehran denies the charge. (Reporting by Hossein Jaseb and Parisa Hafezi; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Matthew Jones)
Iraq's President Jalal Talabani (R) speaks with British Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Prentice during their meeting in Baghdad April 4, 2008. Picture taken April 4, 2008. REUTERS/Handout/Iraqi government office (IRAQ). FOR ...
